
Class TT\ +H5+ 
Book ^5^ 

OopyiigM 



A SONG OF THE ENGLISH 



A SONG OF THE 
ENGLISH 




. 



,,, N,.\ I Mill K, 1909 







CONTENTS 



I. A SONG OF THE ENGLISH 

Fair is our lot — () goodly is om- heritage! 

II. THE COASTWISE LIGHTS 

Our broil'.* arc, bound with spindrift and the /recti is on. 
our knees. 



III. THE SON*! OK TMK DEAD 

Hear now the Song of the Dead— in the North by th< 
torn berg-edges. 



IV. THE DEEP-SEA CABLES 

The wrecks dissolve above us ; their dust drops down 
from afar. 



V. THE SONG OF THE SONS 

One from the ends of tin- earth gifts at an open door. 



A SONG OF THE ENGLISH 

VI. THE SONli OF THE CITIES 

BOMBA"! 
Royal <(//./ Doirfr-mi/iil, I the Queen. 

CALCUTTA 
.l/r the Sea captain loved, the Riverbuilt 

MADRAS 
dive kissed me on the mouth and eyes and brow. 

EtANGOOH 
Hail, Mother! /><> they rail me rich in trade f 

SINGAPORE 
Hail, Mother! East and West must seek mil aid. 

HONG KONG 
Hart, Mother! Hold me fast ; >n>i Praya sleeps. 



A SONG OF THE ENGLISH 

THE SONG OF THE CITIES— Continued 

HALIFAX 
Into the mist my guardian prows put forth. 

QUEBEC AND MONTREAL 
Peace is our portion. Yet a whisper rose. 

VICTORIA 
From East to West the circling word has }>assed. 

CAPETOWN 
Hail ! Snatched and bartered oft from hand to hand. 

MELBOURNE 
Greeting ! Nor fear nor favour won us place. 

SYDNEY 
Greeting ! My birth-stain have I turned to good. 

BRISBANE 
The northern stirp beneath the southern skies. 



A SONG OF THE ENGLISH 

THE SONG OF THE CITIES— Continued. 

HOBART 

Mans love first found me; man's hate made me Hell. 

AUCKLAND 
Last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart. 

VII. ENGLAND'S ANSWER 

Truly ye come of The Blood; slower to bless than to ban. 





ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR 

1. Frontispiece. Follow after — we are waiting by the trails that 

we lost, 
For the sounds of many footsteps, for the tread 
of a host. 

2. Fair is our lot — goodly is our heritage! 
(Humble ye, my people, and be fearful in your mirth ! 

For the Lord our God Most High 
He hath made the deep as dry, 
He hath smote for us a pathway to the ends of all the Earth ! 

3. Our brows are bound with spindrift and the weed is on our knees; 
Our loins are battered 'neath us by the swinging, smoking seas. 

4. Through the endless summer evenings, on the lineless, level floors. 

5. Come up, come in from Eastward, from the guardports of the 

Morn! 
Beat up, beat in from Southerly, gipsies of the Horn, 
Swift shuttles of an Empire's loom that weave us, main to main, 
The Coastwise Lights of England give you welcome back again ! 

6. Came the Whisper, came the Vision, came the Power with the 

Need, 
Till the Soul that is not man's soul was lent us to lead. 



T. Then the wood failed- then the food failed— then the last watei 

dried — 
In the faith of little children we lay down and died. 

s. On the sand-drift — on the veldt-side — in the fern-scruh we lay. 
That our sons might follow after hy the hones on the way. 

0. Follow after — follow after — for the harvest is sown : 

By the bones about the wayside ye shall come to your own ! 

10. When Drake went down to the Horn, 
And England was crowned thereby. 

11. We have fed our sea for a thousand years, 

And she calls us, still unfed, 
Though there's never a wave of all her waves 
But marks our English dead. 

12. If Mood he the price of admiralty, 

Lord God, we ha' paid in full! 

1 :>. There's never a flood goes shoreward now 

But lifts a keel we manned ; 
There's never an ebb goes seaward now 

But drops our dead on the sand — 
But slinks our dead on the sands forlore 

From the Ducies to the Swin. 



14. The wrecks dissolve, above us; their dust drops down from afar — 

Down to the dark, the utter dark, where the blind white sea- 
snakes are. 

15. Here in the womb of the world — here on the tie-ribs of earth 
Words, and the words of men, flicker and flutter and beat — 
Warning, sorrow and gain, salutation and mirth — 

For a Power troubles the Still that has neither voice nor feet. 

16. Those that have sta3 T ed at thy knees, Mother, go call them in — 
We that were bred overseas wait and would speak with our kin. 
Not in the dark do we fight— haggle and flout and gibe; 
Selling our love for a price, loaning our hearts for a bribe. 

17. Bombay. 

18. Calcutta. 

19. Madras. 

20. Rangoon. 

21. Singapore. 

22. Hong-Kong. 

23. Halifax. 



24. Quebec and Montreal. 



25. Capetown. 



LELKOl'KNE. 



27. Sydney. 



28. BOBAET. 



•.".I. Ari'KLAND. 



30. Deeper than speech our love, stronger than life our tether, 

But we do not fall on the neck nor kiss when we come together. 
My arm is nothing weak, my strength is not gone by ; 
Sons, I have borne many sons, but my dugs are not dry. 




A SONG OF THE ENGLISH 



II 

HE HATH SMOTE FOR US A PATHWAY TO THE 
ENDS OF ALL THE EARTH 

Fair is our lot — goodly is our heritage ! 

(Humble ye, my people, and be fearful in your mirth !) 

For the Lord our God Most High 

He hath made the deep as dry, 
He hath smote for us a pathway to the ends of all the Earth ! 



A SONG OF THE ENGLISH 




Fair is our lot — O goodly is our heritage! 
[Humble ye, my people, and be fearful in your 
mirth !) 
For the Lord our God Most High 
He hath made the deep as dry, 
He hath smote for us a pathway to the cuds of all 
the Farlh / 




I we s td—ando i s a />-<v// 

ousness — 

' *■ ... ... v 

■ ':,■..•>' -: ( 7;/. 

1 dis \qyed, 

strayed, 
' . . v ord shal 

with than! 




Hold ye the Faith— the Faith our Fathers seated 



Whoring not with visions — overwise and over- 
stale 
E * cept ve fay the Lord 
Single //carl (an/ single sword, 
Of your children in their bondage shall He ask 
litem treble tale I 




v ! i a " obedie ice — 

■ 

each hh 

- 



,,r " >'<«>■■' <> ong a ong of broken interludes— 
si song of little cunning; of a tnge, nothing 
worth. 
Through the naked words and mean 
May ye %ee the truth bet <een 
/Is the singer knew and touched it in the ends 
of all the Earth / 




THE COASTWISE LIGHTS 



Ill 

THE SWINGING, SMOKING SEAS 

Our brows are bound with spindrift and the weed is on 

our knees ; 
Our loins are battered 'neath us by the swinging, smoking 



IV 

ON THE LINELESS, LEVEL FLOORS 

Through the endless summer evenings, on the lineless, level 
floors. 

V 
THE COASTWISE LIGHTS OF ENGLAND 

Come up, come in from Eastward, from the guardports of 

the Morn ! 
Beat up, beat in from Southerly, O gipsies of the Horn! 
Swift shuttles of an Empire's loom that weave us, main to 

main, 
The Coastwise Lights of England give you welcome back 

again ! 




■ IHI 



THE COASTWISE LIGHTS 












|w 'V 1 ■'■ IS 

pi! • P 



m 




Our brows are bound with spindrift and the weed 

is on our knees ; 
Our loins arc battered 'neath us by the swinging, 

smoking sens. 
Prom reef and rock and skerry — over headland, 

ness, and voe — 
The Coastwise Lights of England watch the ships 

of England go ! 




Through the endless summer evenings, on the lino- 
loss, level floors; 

Through the yelling Channel tempest when the 
siren hoots and roars 

By day the dipping house-flag and by night the 
rocket's trail 

As the sheep that graze behind us so we know 
them where they hail. 




We bridge across the dart and bid the helms- 
man have a care, 

The Hash that wheeling inland wakes his sleeping 
wife to prayer; 

From our vexed eyries, head to gale, we bind in 
burning chains 

The lover from the sea-rim drawn- his love in 
English lanes. 



We greet the clippers wing-and-wing that race the 

Southern wool ; 
We warn the crawling cargo-tanks of Bremen, 

Leith, and Hull; 
To each and all our equal lain]) at peril of the 

sea 
The white wall-sided warships or the whalers of 

Dundee ! 




Come up, come in from Eastward, from the guard- 
ports of the Morn ! 

Beat up, beat in from Southerly, gipsies of the 
Horn ! 

Swift shuttles of an Empire's loom that weave us, 
main to main, 

The Coastwise Lights of England give you wel- 
come hack again ! 





(Jo, get you gone up-Channel with the sea-crust 

on your plates ; 
Go, get you into Loudon with (Im v burden of your 

freights! 
Haste, for they talk of Empire there, and say. if 



The Lights o\' England sent, you and by silence 
shall ye speak ! 



THE SONG OF THE DEAD 



THE SONG OF THE DEAD 



VI 

CAME THE WHISPER, GAME THE VISION 

Game the Whisper, oame the Vision, came the Tower with 

the Need, 
Till the Soul thai isnol man's soul was lent as to lead. 



V 1 1 

THEN THE LAST WATEB DRIED 

Then the wood failed -then the Eood Bailed— then the Inst 

water dried— 
In the Eaith o( Little ohildren «c Lay down and died. 



V 1 1 I 

o\ rill-: SAND-DRIFT— ON THE VELDT-SIDE 

On the sand-drift -on tin- veldt-side in the fern-scrub we 

lay. 

That our sons might follow after by tho bones on tlu> way. 



1 X 

FOLLOW AFTER 

Follow after— follow a ft or for the harvest is sown : 

By tho bones about the wayside ye shall oome to your own ! 




WATER DR 



X 
WHEN DBAKB WENT DOWN TO THE HOBN 

When Drake went down to the lion,, 
And England was crowned thereby. 

XI 
SHE CALLS US, STILL UNFED 

We hare fed our sea for a thousand yearg, 

And slio calls us, still unfed, 
Though there's never a ware of all her waves 

But mark-, our English dead. 

xn 

LORD GOD, WE HA' J 'A ID IN FULL! 

If blood be the price of admiralty, 
Lord God, we ha' paid in f.,n | 

XIII 
BUT DROPS OUR DEAD ON THE SAND 

There 's never a flood goes shoreward now 

But lifts a keel we manned; 
There's never an ebb goes seaward now 

But drops our dead on the sand- 
But slinks our dead on the sands forlore, 

From the Ducies to the Swin. 




Hear now the Song of the Dead— in the North 

by the torn berg-edges — 
They thai took still to the Pole, asleep by their 

hide-stripped sledges. 
Snug of the Dead in the South— in the sun by 

their skeleton horses, 
Wliere the warrigal whimpers and bays through 

the dust of the sere river-courses. 




'1UU 'i. r #?t i" 






Song of the Dead 1 1 the Ecu 

kloof— in the 

in t/te fVest in the Barrens, 

s 

■/•/ the 
I . . g . 



We were dreamers, dreaming greatly, in the man 

stilled town ; 

We yearned beyond tin; sky line where the strange 

roads go down. 
Came the Whisper, came the Vision, fame the 

Power with the Need, 
Till the Soul that is not man's soul was lent as 

to lead. 

A- tin; deer breaks- as the steer breaks from 

the herd where; they graze, 
In the faith of little children we went on our 





Then the wood failed thou the Pood failed -then 
the last water dried 

In the faith of little children we lay down and 
died. 

On the sand-drift — on the veldt-side — in the fern- 
scrub we lay. 

That our sons might follow after l>y the hones 
on the way. 

Follow after — follow after! We have watered the 
root. 

And the bud has come to blossom that ripens for 
fruit ! 




Follow after — wc are waiting, by the trails that 

we lost, 
For the sounds of many footsteps, for the tread 

of a host. 
Follow after — follow after — for the harvest is 

sown : 
By the bones about the wayside ye shall come to 

your own ! 



What Drake went down to the Horn 
And England was crowned thereby, 

'Twixt seas unsailed and shores unhailed 
Our Lodge— our Lodge was born 
[And England was crowned thereby /) 




Which never shall close again 

By day nor yet by night, 
II 'hile man shall take his life to stake 

At risk of shoal or main 

{By day nor yet by night) 





But standeth even so 

As now we witness //ere. 

While men depart, of joyful heart, 
Adventure for to know 
(As now dear witness here!) 




We have fed our sea for a thousand years 

And she calls us, still unfed, 
Though there's never ;i wave of nil her waves 

But marks our English dead: 
We have strawed our best to the weed's unrest 

To the shark and the sheering gull. 
If blood be the price of admiralty, 

Lord < rod, we ha' paid in full ! 




There's never a flood goes shoreward now 

But lifts a keel we manned : 
There's never an ebb goes seaward now 

Bu1 drops our dead on the sand 
But slinks owv dead on the sands Forlore, 

Prom the Ducies to the Swin. 
It' blood be the price oi' admiralty, 
It' blood be the price of admiralty, 

Lord God, we ha' paid it in ! 



' 



We iini-t, feed one aea i'<>r a thousand years, 

For that is our doom and pride, 
A if, w;i-: when they sailed with the Golden Hind, 

Or the wreck that struck last tide 
Or the wreck that lies on the spouting reef 

Where the ghastly blue-lights flare, 
[f blood be the price of admiralty, 
If blood be the price of admiralty, 
tf blood be the price of admiralty, 

Lord God, we ha' bought it fair ! 



- 




THE DEEP-SEi CABLES 



X I V 
THE WRECKS DISSOLVE Ai'.ovi; U8 

The wrecks di isolve above at; their ilmt, dropi down from 

afar 
Down to the dark, to the utter dark, where the blind white 

sea-snakes are. 

X V 
IN THE WOMB OF THE WORLD 

Here, in the WOXttb of 1 ho world lion; on the t.ioiih. ol 

earl ii 
Words, and the wordi of men, Bicker and Sutter and beat - 
Warning, sorrow and gain, lalutatioo and mirtfa — 
Wot a Power troubles the Still that has neither voice nor 

frjet.. 






VRECKS DISSOLVE 
US 







t 



THE DEEP-SEA CABLES 




The wrecks dissolve above us; their dust drops 

down from afar — 
Down to the dark, to the utter dark, where the 

blind white sea-snakes are. 
There is no sound, no echo of sound, in the deserts 

of the deep, 
Or the great grey level plains of ooze where the 

shell-burred cables creep. 








ju^a 










Here in the womb of the world here on the tie- 
ribs of earth 
Words, and the words of men, flicker and flutter 
and beat 
Warning, sorrow and gain, salutation and 
mirth 
For a Power troubles the Still that has neither 
voice nor feet, 




They have wakened the timeless Things ; they hare 
killed their father Time; 
Joining hands in the -loom, a league from the 
last of the sun. 
Hush ! Men tali to-day o'er the waste of the 
ultimate slime, 
And a new Word run-; between: whispering, 
■ I.' t ii- \„- one ! ' 



XVI 
WE THAT WERE BRED OVERSEAS 

Those that have stayed at thy knees, Mother, go call 

them in — 
We that were bred overseas wait and would speak with 

our kin. 
Not in the dark do we fight-haggle and flout and gibe ; 
Selling our love for a price, loaning our hearts for a bribe. 



THE SONG OF THE SONS 



THE SONG OF THE SONS 




One from the ends of the earth — gifts at an open 

door — 
Treason has much, but we, Mother, thy sons have 

more ! 
From the whine of a dying man, from the snarl 

of a wolf-pack freed, 
Turn, and the world is thine. Mother, be proud 

of thy seed ! 
Count, are we feeble or few? Hear, is our speech 

so rude ? 
Look, are we poor in the land? Judge, arc we 

men of The Blood ? 



Those th.it have stayed at thy knees, Mother, gu 

call them in 
We that were bred overseas wait and would speak 

w ith our kin. 
Not in the dark do we fight daggle and flout 

and gibe ; 
Selling our love for a price, loaning our hearts for 

a bribe. 
Gifts have wo only to-daj Love without promise 

or too 

Hoar, tor thy children speak, from the uttermost 

parts of the sea ! 




THE SONG OF THE CITIES 






„ . 




XVII. BOMBAY 
XVIII. CALCUTTA 
XIX. MADRAS 
XX. RANGOON 
XXI. SINGAPORE 
XXII. HONG-KONG 

XXIII. HALIFAX 

XXIV. QUEBEC AND MONTREAL 
XXV. CAPETOWN 

XXVI. MELBOURNE 
XXVII. SYDNEY 
XXVIII. HOBART 
XXIX. AUCKLAND 



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BOMBAY 






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MADRAS 

















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RANGOON 









HONG-KONG 






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CAPETOWN 






HOBART 



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AUCKLAND 



THE SONG OF THE CITIES 















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Royal and Dower-royal, I the Queen 

Fronting thy richest sea with richer hands — ■ 

A thousand mills roar through me where I glean 
All races from all land-. 



CALCUTTA 




Me the Sea-captain loved, the River built, 

Wealth sought and Kings adventured life to hold. 

Hail, England! I am Asia— Power on silt, 
Death in my hands, but Gold! 







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Olive kissed me on the mouth and eyes and brow 

Wonderful kisses, so that I became 
Crowned above Queens — a withered beldame now, 
Brooding on ancient fame. 




Hail, Mother! Do they call me rich in trade? 

Little care I, but hear the shorn priest drone, 
And watch my silk-clad lovers, man by maid, 

Laugh 'neath my Shwe Dagon. 



SINGAPORE 




Hail, Mother! East and West must seek ray aid 
Ere the spent gear may dare the port- afar. 

The second doorway of the wide world's trade 
Is mine to loose or bar. 



HONG-KONG 




Hail, Mother! If old me fast; my Praya sleeps 

Under innumerable keels to-day. 
Fet guard (and landward), or to-morrow sweeps 

Thy warships down the bay! 







Into the mist my guardian prows put forth, 
Behind the mist my virgin ramparts lie, 

The Warden of the Honour of the North, 
Sleepless and veiled am T ! 



QUEBEC AND MONTREAL 




Peace is our portion. Yet a whisper rose, 
Foolish and causeless, half in jest, half hate. 

Now wake we and remember mighty blows, 
And, fearing no man, wait! 



VICTORIA 




From East to West the circling word has passed, 
Till West is East beside our land-locked blue; 

From East to West the tested chain holds fast, 
The well-forged link rings true ! 



CAPETOWN 







Hail! Snatched and bartered oft from hand to 
hand, 

I dream my dream, by rock and heath and pine, 
Of Empire to the northward. Ay, one land 

From Lion's Head to Line ! 



MELBOURNE 



j&gpM£ 




Greeting ! Nor fear nor favour won us place, 
Got between greed of gold and dread of drouth, 

Loud-voiced and reckless as the wild tide-race 
That whips our harbour-mouth ! 




Greeting ! My birth-stain have T turned to good 
Forcing strong wills perverse to steadfastness ; 

The first flush of the tropics in my blood, 
And at my feet Success ! 




The northern stirp beneath the southern skies — 
I build ;i Nation for an Empire's need, 

Suffer a little, and my land shall rise, 
Queen over lands indeed ! 




Man's love first found me; man's hate made me 
Hell; 

For my bal.es' sake I cleansed those infamies. 
Earnest for leave to live and labour well, 
God flung me peace and ease. 



AUCKLAND 




Last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart — 

On H-, on ns the unswerving season smiles, 

Who wonder 'mid our fern why men depart 

To seek the Happy Isles! 



ENGLAND'S ANSWER 



XXX 

MY ARM IS NOTHING WEAK, MY STRENGTH 
IS NOT GONE BY 

Deeper than speech our love, stronger than life our tether, 
But we do not fall on the neck nor kiss when we come 

together. 
My arm is nothing weak, my strength is not gone by ; 
Sons, I have borne many sons, but my dugs are not dry. 



MY ARM IS 
BY 



ENGLAND'S ANSWER 



Jf&^M^lWK 41411 


hIuImHhm m^ %;v?^^ 


Jill 

JHS^II i '1 1111 


HfflK^/tftf W 




IS, 



Truly ye come of The Blood; slower to bless than 

to ban; 
Little used to lie down at the bidding of any 



Flesh of the flesh that I bred, bone of the bone 
that I bare ; 



Stark as your sons shall be — stern as your fathers 

were. 
Deeper than speech our love, stronger than life our 

tether, 
But we do not fall on the neck nor kiss when we 

come together. 





My arm is nothing- weak, my strength is not 

gone by; 
Sons, I have borne many sons, but my dugs are 

not dry. 
Look, I have made ye a place and opened wide 

the doors, 



That ye may talk together, your Barons and Coun- 
cillors — 

Wards of the Outer March, Lords of the Lower 
Seas, 

Ay, talk to your grey mother that bore you on 
her knees ! — 





That ye may talk together, brother to brother's 

face — 
Thus for the good of your peoples — thus for the 

Pride of the Race. 
Also, we will make promise. So long as The Blood 

endures, 



I shall know that your good is mine : ye shall feel 

that my strength is yours : 
In the day of Armageddon, at the last great fight 

of all, 
That Our House stand together and the pillars do 

not fall. 





Draw now the threefold knot firm on the ninefold 
bands, 

And the Law that ye make shall be law after the 
rule of your lands. 

This for the waxen Heath, and that for the Wattle- 
bloom, 



This for the Maple-leaf, and that for the southern 

Broom. 
The Law that ye make shall be law and I do not 

press my will, 
Because ye are Sons of The Blood and call me 

Mother still. 





Now must ye speak to your kinsmen and they 

must speak to you, 
After the use of the English, in straight-flung 

words and few. 
Go to your work and be strong, halting not in 

your ways, 



Baulking the end half-won for an instant dole of 

praise. 
Stand to your work and be wise — certain of sword 

and pen, 
Who are neither children nor Gods, but men in a 

world of men ! 




\ 



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